Stay-at-home parents: Overview

Member comments

When I first became pregnant, my husband and I decided it was no ones job but ours to raise our child. One of us should always be home with our daughter. (Some people aren't able to do that and I totally understand that. This is just what we wanted for our daughter.) While he worked, I stayed at home, when I worked, he was at home. At 4 monthd old my daughter developed severe complex partial seizures and had hypotonia. She is 2 years old now and very delayed. May of this year, after months of my husband asking me to quit and stay home with her, I did. It has been so rewarding. I am here with her all the time, it's what she needs and what I need. It's a lot less stressful now, not trying to work around my husbands schedule. We are able to afford me not working. When he gets home, he wants her, so I get amazing breaks. I couldn't imagine working now while she is this young. I love watching her develope and learn. I think it's crucial to her and myself. I am blessed to have this opprotuni

I am a stay at home mom now I think 3 months maternity is not enough time to bond with your little one I know as a mom you may have to go back to work but i think it is to soon your baby needs you and no one can take care of him better than you my husband would not hear of me working and I think that is ok with me

My husband and I are both stay at home parents. We own our own business which we run from home and only takes about 2-3 hours per day, three days a week. We are financially very stable. We are both college educated (I have a masters in educational leadership and he has a bachelors in chemistry). We have a 8 month old and I'm currently 23 weeks pregnant. I have to say that we have been so blessed to have this opportunity to be with our children. We even bought an RV so we can travel the country and give our children the opportunity for some "real world" learning. I have been one to work out of the home for many years and at first it was hard when I decided to quit my full time position but it was the best decision I ever made. No amount of money can replace the time that both my husband and I get to spend with our children and with each other. If you can financially afford to have at least one parent stay home it will be the best gift you can give your child.

I feel that I am lucky to be able to be a "stay at home mom" and a "working outside the home mom" three times over in the past four years. We have three kids age 4,3, and 1. My work benefits allowed me to take the full year of maternity leave for all three kids, which means that I got to be home to take care of the two older preschool age children. Now the older are in JK and preschool Montessori and the little one is home with a nanny. Previously they went to a preschool part time. While it was great to be there for them all day, I also felt there were interactions in a structured learning and play environment with peers their own age, without ME present; these were things that I could not give them. I also found that I was spending too much time taking care of stuff around the house, cleaning, dinner preps, take care of an infant to be the best teacher all the time. I don't regret going back to work full time, in fact I am more happy, gentle and calm with; I teach them piano too.

I have two adult children ages 18 & 20. I recently had a daughter who is 2 months old. My husband and i both agree that i should stay home with her, although i really want to help out financially. it bothers me at times that i am in a situation where i have to rely on my husband all the time. maybe its my pride and ego because i am so used to working. But the feeling i get from knowing that i am her full time care giver is awesome.....

Wow Or maybe its the length of time I chose to stay home and do volunteer work (partially with and for them) instead of joining the paid workforce and ensuring my financial future Teenagers need as much attention as babies and toddlers do was my thinking I am 67 and living at the poverty level with very little retirement income. I LOVED being there for them! Now I am the bad mother as the other grandmother had to work way to hard to put food on the table while I was having fun. My adult children are extremely rude, hateful, hurtful, non-communicative and disrespectful. They know that I will love them no matter what Of course there is more to the story but even children of the crack crowd treat their parents better than mine do me. 'Kay....enough whining. I made a bad and ill-informed decision Today I would go with the folks who say that well-adjusted intelligent adults emerge from well managed early daycare Maybe just not until 3 years of age with an affordable work situ

I stay home with my 2 sons ages 1 and 3. The difficulty is based on both the parent and the children (how old, how many, spacing). If I stay organized and do a thorough job disciplining, my job is "easy" (though still hard work!). If I become lazy and let my desires for free-time and more material objects overcome me, then it becomes the toughest job in the world. I do it for all of the reasons mentioned in this article and while I do occasionally wish I could join the rest of society, I would NEVER quit this job! When I see how well-behaved my kiddos are compared to a lot of other kids out there and when I get compliments on them EVERYWHERE I go, I know it's worth every ounce of frustration that comes with the job. My number one peeve is when people say, "Oh, that's so nice that you can afford to stay home with them," as if it's some luxury. Make no mistake; my decision to stay home was just that--a decision. We are almost always broke, but we are soooooo happy! Give it a try :)

My daughter is 22 months and I'm having our second in 2 months. I've been out of work since 2 months before my daughter was born, mostly because my enlistment in the army ended and I didn't want to stay in. Now I'm sick of being home all the time and even though we don't need the money it would be nice to pad our savings and work harder on retirement this decision is becoming more and more difficult. I got to watch everything my daughter did and I will miss it with my son plus there is still so much to see my daughter do...I want to get out and be around adults but I wish I could take my kids with me!

This was a helpful article. I am at hime with my 15 m.o. son and am 13 wks pregnant again. I finished my Master of Cosmetology diploma and got my license. I'm currently on the hunt for another job, but haven't taken it very seriously because I am worried about leaving my son with my husband's inlaws... But I think its time to really look at get one before I have this baby, and get established. Then I can work at home occasionally until ready to return to a salon. I am nervous, I need to help my husband and try to get ahead while I can. Wish me luck! :)

Well... for my first child, who's 2y and 5mo old, I stayed at home for her until she was 1 year old. In our particular case my husband WORKS at home, so we nearly killed each other. I missed work and felt useless, even though I was aware that was the best for my baby and I was doing a good job. I needed to do something else besides taking care of her and doing the chores. So I went back to work and my hubby became the stay-at-home parent. When our second child arrived, whoâ??s 5mo old now, I went back to work after my maternity leave happy thinking thatâ??s what I wantedâ?¦ to say that it is difficult for my husband is an understatement, but heâ??s a saint and works and cares for our kids with dedication and love. Now I find myself thinking that Iâ??d love to be at home with them, give the exhausted dad a break and just be with my kids. Unfortunately our financial situation wonâ??t allow me to quit and be at home, but if in the future I get the chance to do it, Iâ??ll be a mom who learned her lesson

I have never heard a mother say, "Gee, I wish I had worked more when my children were babies." But I have many friends say they wished they had worked less or even taken off a year or two to be with and raise their babies at least until preschool age. Children are so needy for such a short amount of time. I thank God every day that I gave up a lot of education and successful career for my three kids. I can and will go back into the workforce in a few years and I have no fears about picking up where I left off. However, I could never get back these early years with my kids. Why else did we give them life if not to share precious time with those little lives?

I love being a stay at home mom, but it's not for everybody. Some of my closest friends have chosen to go back to work, and I understand a lot of their struggles at home. Not only the financial issues, but the isolation and lack of structure.

I take the kids out every day, often both in the morning and evening. I always have a child on one hip, and another one either holding my hand or grabbing my leg. We play, grocery shop, go to classes- they even come with me to get my hair cut. And we do playdates 3-4x a week.

You have to enjoy a little chaos, not mind the dishes not getting done sometimes, and be ready to talk to random moms at the park, store, etc. You have to create your own schedule, and get out of the house! Otherwise, it can be a lonely (even depressing) existence. Friends are crucial!

But I love it. I wouldn't trade it for the world! This time with my kids fills me with joy. It's hard, but so, so worth it.

the study that showed that children that stayed home with poor or uneducated parents do not do as well academically is not a reflection of stay at home mom's as a whole. Often undereducated parents do not value education as much, or they do not have the knowledge to help their children in school. it is hard to break free of the cycle of poverty because many of the qualities are learned. I worked a school that was very low income and have seen both wonderful parents and the worst kinds. I am going to stay at home with my daughter and homeschool her for awhile, but I wont deprive her of interactions with other kids. Play is an excellent form of learning. Kids in public school do not get enough time to play and interact. Kindergardeners are at their chairs for most of the day with very short recesses and discouraged from talking even at lunch. Their educations are lacking because the schools have to worry so much about test scores.

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